Monday, October 27, 2008

Cooking demo at Medieval Fair

Not a bad picture, and a great memory of a really fun day.

Mn viking baby


Mn viking baby
Originally uploaded by Valkyr8
Finished. Just need to wash and block it. I started on the hat.

Too bad the colors are washed out.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Child's Placket Neck Pullover #2

I knitted the first one from Last Minute Knitted Gifts about a year ago. Turns out there was all sorts of errata in the pattern in that publication. I'm afraid I never noticed and happily knit up the sweater, that Landra still wears. I'm using the leftover Cascade 220 from Niahm's Peapod Baby sweater and added a couple contrasting colors to make stripes. I loved how the stripes worked on the first sweater and so far this sweater looks really good.

I love this pattern. I cast on last night and I had the body knit just an inch shy of the underarms before I went to bed. Tonight I should finish the body to the underarms and start the sleeves. It's possible I could have the thing mostly done by Sunday, which would rock. I'm making a size 1-2. Then I get to start on the hat, which is it's own level of total cuteness. I should knit these sweaters for charity, but I have my spare yarn set aside for hats and mittens that the Minnesota Knitter's Guild is collecting in November.

I finished the cardigan out of the Cotton Kisses yarn by Plymouth. I hated this yarn. It's a cotton/acrylic/nylon blend, nubly and very loosely plied; three things that I do not like in yarn. The pattern came with the ball of yarn and included the buttons (little ducks). The whole thing is very twee, which may or may not please the recipient, but, at the very least I could always hang onto it for someone elses child or donate it to a charity where they need sweaters for kids. I could also donate it to a church. There are options. I made the largest size and my yarn barely held out, I have ~3 yards left over.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Third Place

Not really that surprising. I thought the stockings would be met with confusion, and speaking for myself I really liked the socks that took first. I'll never understand the appeal of beads on socks, but that's just me.

For my entry I received 2 skeins of sock yarn in a really beautiful red. I love it! It is the perfect color for Fawkes.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Tulip baby sweater, now with more baby


Gross family, 10-15-08
Originally uploaded by Valkyr8
I agree, handknits do look better when modeled by babies.

I LOVE how this outfit turned out. Wicked cute!!!!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Innocent hats


innocent hats
Originally uploaded by Valkyr8

I completed 12 and they are off to be delivered by the end of the week. Oy, that was more money then I wanted to spend for a "charity knit".

Next year I'm mailing the damn things in August.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Giving in to peer pressure

I turned in my silk stockings for competition in the Knit'n from the Heart Soctoberfest event this week. I dropped them off on Friday and they will be on display for judging during the week. The winner receives 20% off sock yarn for a year, which would be awesome.

Too bad I will miss all the festivities on Saturday when the winner is announced. Between the event, having out of town guests and the housewarming, I am swamped.

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

October already

I hit the ground running after Rose Tourney and haven't really stopped.

Last week was spent preparing for an event on Saturday, where I had to remake a set of sleeves to go with my dress (naturally...) then followed by the demo for the Caponi Art Park on Sunday.

The demo this year was fabulous! We had 13 fighters (12 who fought, including 2 knights), demonstrating both rapier and armored combat. We had 18 artisans demonstrating cooking, coin making, pewter casting, fiber arts, music, leather working, fire starting and simply wearing beautiful garb and speaking to people all day. We had all canvas structures, 1 pavilion and 8 shade flys. We had banners/ pennants, Royalty, Peers, Nobility and most important we had 700 people come through the park! That is an unprecidented number of people. All of them had excellent questions and everyone seemed to have a good time and be generally interested. It was a thrilling day and I loved every minute of it.

I was on site early and set up in the rain. I did not enjoy this portion of the day and shouted a number of oaths skyward. P had to bring me a change of garb cause I was soaked through. The rain stopped, the sun came out and the day was beautiful. Simply perfect! We went to Eleanor and Tristan's place afterward for grilling, chilli and hanging out. It was a lovely end to the day, but naturally I stayed too late visiting and got home and crashed. I didn't unload the van until Monday, but everything is put away and borrowed items have been returned.

Now I need to get the house ready for guests on Thursday and the Housewarming on the 18th.